Collector card/phone card dispensing system with promotional instant win game piece feature

ABSTRACT

A system and method for promoting and dispensing collector&#39;s cards to a plurality of users. The system includes a microprocessor connected to a currency acceptor, a collector&#39;s card dispenser, and a game piece dispenser. When currency is inserted into the currency acceptor, the microprocessor registers the signal provided by the currency acceptor and directs the collector&#39;s card dispenser to distribute at least one collector&#39;s card according to the amount of currency entered. As a promotion to encourage the sale of the collector&#39;s cards, the system also dispenses a game piece simultaneously with the collector&#39;s card, that allows the user to play a game of chance.

This application is a continuation-in-part application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 08/925,860 filed Sep. 9, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No.6,213,874 entitled “Collector Card/Phone Card Dispensing System withPromotional Free Spin/Free Draw Game Feature.”

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to a device for distributing cards,and, in particular, to a card dispensing machine and system thatincludes a promotional Instant Win Card game feature used to increaseinterest in purchasing such collector's cards.

Collecting special collector's series cards, or collector's cards, hasbecome increasingly popular with the general public. Such collector'scards are used for entertainment purposes in various ways, such asexchanging them with other collectors or saving them as a mementocontaining special significance to the collector. Collecting these cardshas grown to such a great extent that it is reported that certaindistributors of collector's cards distribute over one billion cards eachyear. Therefore, distributors are continuously looking for new andunusual ways to distribute collector's cards and to increase interest intheir particular brand of cards.

Most new collector's cards are purchased at retail stores and specialtyshops from counter stock or display stock. The customer selects the cardor the card package and then pays a clerk or cashier. Promotions areoften tied into the sale, such as bubble gum, three-dimensional cards,and stickers, to increase distribution. Therefore, it is advantageous toa distributor to provide a distinguishing promotion in order toencourage customers to purchase their collector's cards. What is needed,however, is a system and method of distributing collector's cards tocustomers that is efficient and low cost and that adds promotional valueto the transaction.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides an automated dispenser system and methodfor distributing collector's cards that includes a promotional devicethat provides an opportunity to a user to play an instant win game. Anovel feature of this system is the unique manner in which both thecollector's card and the instant win game piece are dispensed inconjunction so that the buyer will have a promotional opportunity toplay an instant win game when the buyer purchases a collector's card. Inaccordance with one object of the invention, a paper currency acceptoraccepts currency from a user and then a computerized card dispenserdelivers a collector's card to the user in response thereto. To increasethe value to the collector, a computerized promotional game piecedispenser is also provided in the system, wherein the game piecedispenser includes a promotional feature for amusement which confers agame piece or pieces to the user for the user to play an instant winmatch game simultaneously with the purchase of a collector's card.

The instant win game can be one of many games played on a single gamepiece, such as a pull-tab game or a rub-off game. If the customer has apull-tab game piece, then the customer can break open the pull-tab onthe game piece to determine if the customer is a winner. If the customerhas a rub-off game piece, then the customer can rub off a covering onthe game piece to view a hidden pattern of symbols that reveals if thecustomer has won a promotional prize.

The operation of the system is overseen by a licensee who is able toassist in the distribution of the games. The licensee is also needed toprovide free game pieces for persons with vouchers from a No PurchaseEntry form so that the person can play a promotional game withoutpurchasing a product.

A preferred embodiment of the system combines a pair of interface cardsconnected to the collector's card dispenser and the game piecedispenser. A collector's card dispenser interface card is connected tothe collector's card dispenser to control the collector's carddispenser. Additionally, the game piece dispenser interface card isconnected to the game piece dispenser to control the game piecedispenser. These connections will allow the card dispensers to work inconjunction with the distribution of the collector's cards and theinstant win game pieces after the insertion of the appropriate amount ofmoney. Additionally, both the collector's card dispenser and the gamepiece dispenser provide information to the user using an Out of Servicelight, a Card Jam light, and a Ready light.

When either dispenser is depleted of stock or game pieces, two thingsoccur. An interrupt switch is activated by either the collector's carddispenser interface card or the free game piece dispenser interfacecard, depending on which dispenser is empty, and the switch disables thesystem from playing until the licensee of the system places more productin the dispenser. Concurrently, an “Out of Service” light on the cabinetis illuminated with respect to the dispenser that is empty and thelicensee of the system is thereby notified to replenish the systemeither with collector's cards or with promotional game pieces.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the dispensing system of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the components of the system as viewed frominside of the front system cabinet door.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the system as viewed from inside the leftside of the system cabinet.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the system as viewed from inside the rightfront of the system cabinet.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the wiring harness associated with thefront door of the system cabinet.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an internal wiring harness of the system.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to the drawings, FIG. 1 shows the connection of the maincomponents of the collector's card dispensing system 100 of the presentinvention: pair of the microprocessor controlled interface cards 19, 21(FIGS. 2 and 5) using copyrighted control program associated with theinterface cards 19, 21; a collector's card dispenser apparatus 16; and agame piece dispenser apparatus 18 mounted inside a system cabinet 8(FIGS. 3 and 4). These components are integrated together via a wiredinterface 13, or an interface harness as shown on FIG. 6. The interface13 will incorporate a power supply bus and a data bus to provide forcommunication of electrical signals and commands to the variouselectronic and electromechanical devices shown on FIG. 1. The powersupply 32 is shown at the base of the cabinet 8 in FIGS. 3 and 4. Thepower supply 32 is connected to all the electronic and electromechanicaldevices throughout the system 100, including both the collector's carddispenser 16 and the game piece dispenser 18. The power supply 32receives power from a wall outlet.

The collector's card dispenser 16 is a conventional electromechanicalmachine of Asahi-Seiko, USA, model CD-1300 or similar style, that isused to distribute the collector's series cards (such as sports cards)or phone cards upon insertion of money into the paper currency acceptor(“PCA”) 30. The PCA 30 is conventionally used in food vending machines,and sends an electrical signal to the control interface card 21 (FIG. 2)to register the correct amount of currency credits received in relationto the value of the currency inserted. The interface card 21 thendirects the collector's card dispenser 16 to dispense the appropriatenumber of collector's cards as related to the dip switch settingsinterpreted by the program on the interface card 21. Simultaneously, thePCA 30 sends a signal to interface card 19 to register the correctamount of currency credits received in relation to the value of thecurrency inserted. The interface card 19 then directs the game piecedispenser 18 to dispense the appropriate number of instant win gamepieces as related to the dip switch setting interpreted by the programon the interface card 19.

The game piece dispenser 18 is a conventional electromechanical machineof Asahi-Seiko, USA, model CD-1100 or similar style, used to distributevarious kinds of game pieces whereby a game can be played on a singlegame piece. Such games include a pull-tab game or a rub-off game. Toplay the pull-tab game piece, the customer breaks open the pull-tab onthe game piece to determine if the customer is a winner. To play therub-off game piece, the customer must rub off a covering on the gamepiece to view a hidden pattern of symbols that reveals if the customerhas won a promotional prize.

The operation of the system and the play of the game pieces are overseenby a licensee who is able to assist in the distribution of the games.The licensee is also needed to provide free game pieces for persons withvouchers from winning game pieces so that the person can play apromotional game.

In the operation of the collector's card dispensing system 100, the userfirst enters currency (coin or paper) into the PCA 30. The PCA 30 thensends a signal to the collector's card dispenser 16 (through acollector's card interface control card 21) and the game piece dispenser18 (through a game piece interface control card 19) to distribute anumber of collector's cards and instant win game pieces corresponding tothe number of credits associated with the currency provided the system.

Physically, the system is housed in a system cabinet 8 as shown in FIGS.2-4. The cabinet 8 has a set of locks 70 (see FIG. 2) that intersectwith the lock brackets 72 (see FIG. 4).

Additionally, there are two sets of identifying lights that are locatedon the game cabinet 8 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2: a collector's cardinformational light display 41 (comprising indicator lights 40, 42 and44 shown on FIGS. 1 and 5) used with the collector's card dispenser 16and a game piece information light display 47 (comprising indicatorlights 46, 48, and 49 shown on FIGS. 1 and 5) used with the game piecedispenser 18. Therefore, the system is able to notify the licensee incontrol of the system when there is a problem with either thecollector's card dispenser 16 or the game piece dispenser 18. In eithercase, the licensee will be able to find and correct the problem in onedispenser without disrupting the other dispenser.

If either the collector's card dispenser 16 or the instant win gamepiece dispenser 18 should become empty, an interrupt switch (not shown)located inside both the collector's card dispenser 16 and the instantwin game piece dispenser 18 would prevent operation of the system 100until the empty dispenser is refilled. During the period while thesystem 100 is empty of cards, a “Collector's Card Out of Service” light40 would be illuminated if the collector's card dispenser 16 was emptyor a “Game Piece Out of Service” light 46 would be illuminated if thegame piece dispenser 18 was empty. Either Out of Service light 40, 46would thereby notify the licensee to replenish the empty supply.

Additionally, the system provides for two other indicator lights usedwith the collector's card information light display 41 of thecollector's card dispenser 16 and the game piece informational lightdisplay 47 of the game piece dispenser 18. A “Collector's Card Jam”light 44 notifies the licensee if the collector's card dispenser 16becomes jammed, or a “Game Piece Jam” light 48 notifies the licensee ifthe game piece dispenser 18 becomes jammed. The “Collector's CardDispensed” light 42 notifies the user that the collector's card has beendelivered into the collector's card receive slot 54 (FIG. 2), and a“Game Piece Dispensed” light 48 notifies the user that the instant wingame piece has been delivered into the game piece receive slot 52 (FIG.2).

During operation of the game, the system can generate effects to makethe game more exciting. A speaker system 14 may be connected to thesystem 100 to allow for sound effects or any other type of beneficialsound. Further, a revolving light 50 may be placed on top of the cabinetcontaining the system to be activated when a user wins, as shown in FIG.2.

Thus, although there have been described particular embodiments of thepresent invention of a new and useful Collector Card/Phone CardDispensing System with Promotional Instant Win Game Piece Feature, it isnot intended that such references be construed as limitations upon thescope of this invention except as set forth in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for dispensing collector's cards to auser comprising: a system cabinet; a currency acceptor mounted in thesystem cabinet; a plurality of collector's cards stored in the systemcabinet, each of the collector's cards having an intrinsic value that isnot dependent on a game of chance; a plurality of promotional gamepieces stored in the system cabinet, each of the promotional game pieceshaving a game piece value determined by a promotional game of chanceseparate from the system; a collector's card dispensing mechanismoperative to dispense the collector's cards, the collector's carddispensing mechanism mounted in the system cabinet; a game piecedispensing mechanism operative to dispense the promotional game piecesseparately from the collector's cards, the game piece dispensingmechanism being mounted in the system cabinet but separate from thecollector's card dispensing mechanism; a collector's card dispenserinterface operatively connected to the currency acceptor and to thecollector's card dispensing mechanism; a game piece dispenser interfaceoperatively connected to the currency acceptor and to the game piecedispensing mechanism; the game piece dispenser interface and thecollector's card dispenser interface each being operable to receive acurrency received signal from the currency acceptor; the collector'scard dispenser interface being operable to send a collector's carddistribution signal to the collector's card dispensing mechanism todispense the collector's card in response to the currency receivedsignal; the game piece dispenser interface being operable to send a gamepiece distribution signal to the game piece dispensing mechanism todispense the game piece in response to the currency received signal sothat when a user of the system enters currency into the currencyacceptor that is sufficient to purchase the collector's card, theseparate game piece is simultaneously dispensed as a free game piece;and interrupt means to prevent the game piece dispensing mechanism fromdispensing the free game piece in response to the currency receivedsignal if no collector's card is available in the system to be dispensedfrom the collector's card dispensing mechanism.
 2. The system of claim 1further comprising a game piece informational light display connected tothe game piece dispensing mechanism to provide operating information tothe user.
 3. The system of claim 2 wherein the game piece informationallight display further comprises a game piece jam light, the game piecejam light operating when a game piece cannot be dispensed through thegame piece dispensing mechanism.
 4. The system of claim 2 wherein thegame piece informational light display further comprises a game pieceout of service light, the game piece out of service light operating whenthe game piece dispensing mechanism is empty of game pieces.
 5. Thesystem of claim 2 wherein the game piece informational light displayfurther comprises a game piece ready light, the game piece ready lightoperating when the game piece dispensing mechanism is operatingproperly.
 6. The system of claim 1 further comprising a collector's cardinformational light display connected to the collector's card dispensingmechanism to provide operating information to the user.
 7. The system ofclaim 6 wherein the collector's card informational light display furthercomprises a collector's card jam light, the collector's card jam lightoperating when a collector's card cannot be dispensed through thecollector's card dispensing mechanism.
 8. The system of claim 6 whereinthe collector's card informational light display further comprises acollector's card out of service light, the collector's card out ofservice light operating when the collector's card dispensing mechanismis empty of collector's cards.
 9. The system of claim 6 wherein thecollector's card informational light display further comprises acollector's card ready light, the collector's card ready light operatingwhen the collector's card dispensing mechanism is operating properly.10. The system of claim 1, wherein the collector's cards include sportscards.
 11. The system of claim 1, wherein the collector's cards includephone cards.
 12. The system of claim 1 wherein the game piece is a pulltab game piece.
 13. The system of claim 1 wherein the game piece is arub-off game piece.
 14. A method of distributing collector's cards froma collector's card dispensing system to a user comprising the steps of:accepting currency from the user through an electromechanical currencyacceptor associated with the system; analyzing the currency receivedfrom the user to determine the amount of credits to register; providinga signal to a collector's card dispenser interface from the currencyacceptor, the signal corresponding to a predetermined amount of currencydeposited in the currency acceptor, the predetermined amountcorresponding to an intrinsic value of at least one of the collector'scards, the intrinsic value being independent of a game of chance;providing a signal from the collector's card dispenser interface to thecollector's card dispensing mechanism; dispensing the collector's cardfrom a collector's card dispensing mechanism according to the signalprovided by the microprocessor; providing a signal to a game piecedispenser interface from the currency acceptor, the signal correspondingto the amount of currency deposited in the currency acceptor; providinga signal from the game piece dispenser interface to a game piecedispensing mechanism that is separate from the collector's carddispensing mechanism; dispensing the game piece from the game piecedispensing mechanism according to the signal provided by themicroprocessor so that the user simultaneously receives the game pieceas a separate free bonus game piece when the user purchases thecollector's card, the game piece having a value that is dependent on agame of chance separate from the card dispensing system; andinterrupting operation of the game piece dispensing mechanism when nocollector's cards are available for dispensing from the collector's carddispensing mechanism.
 15. The method of claim 14 further comprising thestep of promoting the dispensing of the collector's card from the systemafter the collector's card is dispensed from the collector's carddispensing mechanism using a rotating lamp.
 16. The method of claim 14further comprising the step of promoting the dispensing of thecollector's card from the system using a speaker connected to themicroprocessor.
 17. The method of claim 14, further comprising:providing a collector's card selected from a card group, the card groupcomprising sports cards and phone cards.
 18. The method of claim 14further comprising the step of providing a free game piece to the userin response to receiving a voucher from the user.
 19. An apparatus formarketing collector's cards to a user comprising: a wire interface; asupply of collector's cards stored in the apparatus, each of thecollector's cards having an intrinsic value that is not dependent on agame of chance; a supply of game pieces stored in the apparatusseparately from the collector's cards, each of the game pieces having avalue that is dependent on a separate game of chance; a collector's carddispenser to distribute the collector's cards, the card dispenserconnected to the wire interface; a game piece dispenser to distributethe game pieces, the game piece dispenser connected to the wireinterface, the game piece dispenser being separate from the collector'scard dispenser; a currency acceptor to receive coins or paper currency,the currency acceptor connected through the wire interface to amicroprocessor and operable to provide a signal to the microprocessorcorresponding to the amount of currency deposited into the currencyacceptor; the microprocessor operable to provide a signal to thecollector's card dispenser and to the game piece dispenser to cause thedistribution of the collector's card and the separate game piece inresponse to entry of sufficient currency to purchase the collector'scard; and the microprocessor further operable to interrupt operation ofthe game piece dispenser if no collector's cards are available in theapparatus for dispensing from the collector's card dispenser.
 20. Theapparatus of claim 19 further comprising: a plurality of game piecedispenser status lights connected to the game piece dispenser to informthe user of the status of the game piece dispenser.
 21. The apparatus ofclaim 19 further comprising: a plurality of collector's card dispenserstatus lights connected to the collector's card dispenser to inform theuser of the status of the collector's card dispenser.
 22. The apparatusof claim 19, wherein the collector's cards include sports cards.
 23. Theapparatus of claim 19, wherein the collector's cards include phonecards.
 24. A method of selling collector cards from a collector cardvending machine to a purchaser, the method comprising the steps of: (a)supplying the vending machine with a plurality of collector cards, eachof the collector cards having an intrinsic value that is not dependenton a game of chance; (b) supplying the vending machine with a pluralityof promotional game pieces, each of the promotional game pieces having agame piece value determined by a promotional game of chance separatefrom the vending machine; (c) offering to dispense to the card purchasera promotional game piece, conditioned upon a user purchasing, and thevending machine dispensing at least one of the collector cards; (d)accepting currency into the vending machine; (e) registering in thevending machine a value of the currency accepted; (f) dispensing from afirst product dispenser in the vending machine at least one of thecollector's cards when the value of the currency accepted is at leastequal to a predetermined collector card value corresponding to theintrinsic value of at least one of the collector cards; and (g)conditioned on at least one of the collector cards being dispensed fromthe first product dispenser, dispensing from a second product dispenserin the vending machine at least one of the promotional game pieces. 25.The method of claim 24 further comprising the step of alternativelyproviding a free game piece to a user in response to receiving a freegame voucher from the user.